by Dan Wolken, USA TODAY Sports

by Dan Wolken, USA TODAY Sports

Given how the Summer of Johnny ended, with an impotent NCAA ruling and a university whose chancellor backed him like a rabid Internet message board poster, maybe it's no surprise Johnny Manziel acted this way.

Everything he has done and said since the Heisman Trophy has affirmed Manziel's belief that he cannot be touched, that he is bigger than the university he represents, that he is even above NCAA rules. But everyone answers to someone, and Saturday someone finally stood up to Johnny Football.

Thank goodness for Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin.

After everything Manziel has gone through the last few weeks â?? and make no mistake, he's very lucky to have been on the field at all Saturday against Rice â?? you'd think maybe just a smidge of humility might have been in order.

Instead, after sitting out his NCAA-mandated suspension in the first half, Manziel returned and threw three touchdowns in the Aggies' 52-31 victory. But he didn't finish the game, as Sumlin yanked him after he earned a taunting penalty following a touchdown pass to Mike Evans with 9:48 remaining. That followed Manziel's blatant "Show me the Money" hand gesture after a touchdown and an apparent "air autograph" directed toward a Rice player.

Manziel, of course, was likely responding to trash talk from Rice's players about the autograph controversy that put him in the NCAA's cross hairs this summer. But as Sumlin told the news media after Saturday's game, Manziel is going to hear it all year long.

"That wasn't very smart. That's why he didn't go back in the game either," Sumlin said. "You would hope at this point, you'd learn something from that. We're still working on that. He wasn't going back in the game no matter what was happening."

It's quite obvious now that Sumlin still has a very immature player on his hands, one who is brilliantly talented enough to take Texas A&M all the way to a Southeastern Conference title but also one who is just volatile and narcissistic enough to implode on him.

Texas A&M just wants 12 more games out of Manziel without incident, but deep down Sumlin must know that might be too much to ask unless he asserts some control and makes Manziel understand that his actions have consequences. Even if the NCAA is powerless to administer them or fanboys such as Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp enable them.

Sharp, if you remember, said he knew Manziel was innocent of all charges, even though he had never asked him about any of the specifics. No concern over why thousands of pieces of memorabilia with Manziel's signature were floating around in cyberspace, no need to find out why autograph brokers were telling ESPN they had paid him for those signatures, which is against NCAA rules.

Just another member of the Cult of Johnny, sending every signal that he can do what he wants, when he wants.

"I don't have to hear from him," Sharp said.

But Saturday showed Manziel has to hear from the guy who controls his playing time. And that guy wasn't too thrilled with the Johnny show against Rice. Everyone loves watching Manziel do his thing; he's as captivating a player as the sport has seen in quite some time. But finally, an adult showed an interest in teaching him a lesson. You have to wonder why it took this long.

Dan Wolken, a national college football reporter for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @DanWolken.